Harry Potter & The Daughter of Malfoy

Chapter Six - Glowing

"I´ll see that...and raise you a Galleon..."

"A Galleon?" Lucius arched an eyebrow. "My, you really are the big spender, aren´t you, boy?"

Harry grinned. "This coming from the bloke who only raises knuts?" Bob burst out laughing and Harry went a peculiar shade of crimson. "I didn´t mean it like that!" he exclaimed hastily.

"Of course you didn´t," Lucius chuckled, shaking his head. "But then, we both well know that Bob is a filthy minded son of a bitch."

"That I am!" Bob admitted cheerfully, grinning. "And proud of it, thank you very much, Mister Malfoy."

"Why do I tolerate you, Mrs Malfoy?"

Bob batted his eyelashes. "So we actually have some glamour in this marriage?"

Harry Potter couldn´t help laughing.

Had anyone told him, only four months before, that by mid-November, he would be two and a half months pregnant with Lucius Malfoy´s child and would be actually enjoying the company of Lucius and his transvestite wife, he would have told them they were mad.

Mind you, he would have told them they were barking if they even tried to suggest that Narcissa was anything but a stunning woman.

Now, the three of them were in the Malfoy´s specifically designed social room in the West wing of the Manor, which was built on much the same design as a muggle casino, complete with leather-covered stools positioned around the round table they were currently seated at and a green-shaded lamp hanging down over them, giving them just enough light.

A pile of galleons, sickles and knuts was heaped in the middle of the table, glinting dully in the light, as Bob shifted his cards, looking from Harry to Lucius, a smirk on his lips.

Lucius had provided all the coins, having... `lost´ all the plastic poker chips.

Bob had sheepishly muttered something about being bored and pinging them at the top of Voldemort´s head during the last Death Eaters meeting and the Dark Lord had gotten so frustrated that he had hexed them to dust.

The only reason that Bob hadn´t been hexed was because he had fearlessly flung himself - as Narcissa - into Voldemort´s arms and squealed about skilful he was with the `hex´ and `she´ wondered if the wonderfully skilled Dark Lord, who "really knows how to work with his wand just the way I liked it", would like to spend some time practising `hex´ with her.

Clearly Voldemort´s hearing needed checking, as he had apparently gotten very flustered, very quickly.

That was something else that Harry had learned in the course of his stay with the Malfoys: Lord Voldemort was possibly the Darkest Wizard in the world because he had never had a shag and it had built up into a seething pit of unresolved sexual tension that now, he couldn´t resolve because...

Harry had nearly wet himself laughing when he had been told.

With the emergence of his snake-features, the rest of his body had followed suite, taking on some more snakey features, which meant that his once-grand and very well-sized eight-incher shrank. A lot.

Of course, the Death Eaters feigned ignorance, but every one of them knew that their Dark Lord padded his dainty little thong with a rolled up gym sock.

Lucius certainly had a gift with providing Harry with scary visuals.

Picking up several coins from the stack that had replaced the poker chips, Bob put them on the large pile in the middle of the table. "I´ll see you and raise you enough for a new suit."

"He´s bluffing," Harry remarked to Lucius.

"Clearly," Lucius returned.

"Will you two stop doing that?" Bob exclaimed, slapping his cards down on the top of the table. "You´re being all...male-bondy over this stupid game and it isn´t fair on me! I wasn´t bluffing! I have very good cards!" One pair of green and a pair of grey eyes looked at him sceptically. "Okay, maybe I was bluffing...a little..."

"Bob," Harry said patiently, trying not to grin at the very Narcissa-esque pout on Bob´s face. "We know you can´t play poker, so you can only be bluffing since you have no idea what you´re doing."

"I can so play!"

"Bob..."

"Okay, okay!" He threw his hands up. "I can´t play! So what if I have," He flipped his cards over. "A Queen of hearts, a Jack of hearts, a ten of hearts, a King of hearts and a one of hearts?"

Harry and Lucius both quickly checked their own cards.

"Yes, you´re right, Bob, very bad hand you have there," Lucius said quickly, closing his hand to conceal a run of two of diamonds to five of diamonds.

"Awful," Harry agreed, hiding his two nines.

"This is a stupid game anyway," Bob groused petulantly, pushing the pile of money away from himself. "I want to play something fun! Something silly! Something that I know how to play!"

"Bob, you know very that Harry is in no condition to play Twister with you!" Lucius said firmly, gesturing to Harry´s very large and very round belly which was hidden underneath a baggy shirt, acquired from Lucius´ own wardrobe. "He only has a month left and we can´t risk anything happening early."

Bob screwed up his nose. "You´re no fun, Luce..." he replied huffily, then studied the other man speculatively. "I could always play you..."

"And again, I have to answer with an emphatic no."

Looking from one to the other, Bob´s brows beetled, as he tried to think of another reason for Harry to play. Or, alternatively, tried to think up a new game that a very pregnant seventeen year old could play.

"I know!"

"Dear God, have mercy," Lucius moaned, burying his head in his arms on the table.

"Oh, shut up, you cranky old wanker," Bob said airily, getting to his boot-clad feet and adjusting his dark blue shirt. "Harry, sweetie, come with me."

"Where to?" he asked, having learned the hard way that `Come with me´ could lead to anywhere.

He had been directed through a door only a week earlier, when he had been looking for one of the many toilets in the Manor, and immediately was tossed straight into what could be potentially one of the most embarrassing moments of his life.

Narcissa had said `come with me´ and foolishly - out of desperation for a toilet - he had followed her.

Yes, she had actually lead him to a toilet, which he almost kissed with relief before using, only to turn around and find that she had led him straight into Lucius´ private bathroom, where a very embarrassed Lucius was trying to pretend he wasn´t playing with battleships in the tub.

After blinking several times and trying not to notice that Lucius had strategically placed a large toy submarine over a certain...area, he had realised that he should probably leave the room with a hasty, "Um...I´ll be going...er...nice bathroom..."

Needless to say, he had learned to be very suspicious very quickly, especially after waddling as fast as he could out of the bathroom, his face as red as Lucius´ was, to find Narcissa howling with laughter in the hall.

"My room, sweetie!"

Lucius was on his feet instantly. "Bob, you are not going to corrupt the poor boy!" he said, his voice hard as ice. Bob pouted. "And don´t pull that ridiculous face at me! I forbid you to take the boy to your room!"

"Why?" Harry inquired carefully.

Of late, Lucius seemed to be prone to more mood swings than he did, without even having pregnancy as an excuse.

He insisted on doing and saying everything and anything to make sure that Harry was at ease at all times. They had come completely full circle on the relationship they had had, when Harry first arrived.

"Trust me, boy, you don´t want to know."

"It wasn´t going to be for sex! Well...not yet." Bob crossed his arms. "You know I wouldn´t do anything to hurt him, Luce," he said defiantly. "I just want to do a little bit of...you know...father-mother-transgendered-being bonding."

"Should those words scare me as much as they do?" Harry asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"More than likely," Lucius replied in an equally low voice, his silver-grey eyes glinting. "But," he added, giving Harry a none-too-gentle push towards the grinning Bob. "I see no harm in letting my wife play with her favourite toy."

"Lucius!"

"Goodie!"

Before Harry could even let any mood-swing-style anger affect him enough to screech abuse at the father of his child, a pair of manicured hands had grabbed him by the arm and he was being dragged off into the hidden depths of Malfoy Manor, by the skipping Bob, to a place all mortal men fear to tread.

Narcissa Malfoy´s bedroom.

Also known as "The Makeover room".

His wail carried through the halls as they vanished from Lucius sight.

"Luuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuuuusssssss!"

***

"I hate you."

"Likewise, sweetie," Bob laughed. "And you look adorable."

Harry glowered, unsuccessfully trying to squirm free of the red and gold monstrosity he had been flung into by Bob´s expert hands before he could voice a protest or even open his mouth to scream for help.

"Wait a minute..." he tried to back up as Bob approached, a box-shaped object in his hands. "Put that down, Bob! Put it down!"

"Smile, sweetie!"

"NO!"

The camera bulb flashed and Harry wanted to cry.

Here he was, heavily pregnant, and stuffed - like a turkey at Christmas - into a large gold and scarlet cocktail dress, with slits that went almost to the top of his thighs and showed an indecent amount of fairly hairy leg, and stilettos.

And now, there was photographic evidence.

"Those really are your colours, Harry. I should have know...such a good Gryffindor, aren´t you?" Bob cooed, laughing as he placed the camera back on the dresser and moved to help Harry stand upright.

The dresser took up a large section of the wall of the walk-in wardrobe in Bob/ Narcissa´s bedroom, the rest of the walls hung with clothes for all occasions, in every shape, colour and fashion Harry had ever imagined.

"Some good Gryffindor," Harry mumbled sheepishly, as he pushed the straps of the dress off his shoulders and tried to wriggle out of it. "Pregnant by one of the most famous Slytherin couples of recent times."

"And you look absolutely fantastic as well," Bob said cheerfully, pulling the delicate straps of the sequinned dress back up despite Harry´s futile struggle to remove it. "I don´t know what it is about pregnancy, but it gives people a glow..."

"The silly twit is right," another voice spoke from the door of the wardrobe. Lucius was leaning against the frame, watching them and chuckling. "Even in that bloody ridiculous dress. Honestly, Bob, it looked a fright on your mother. What made you think it would look any better on Harry?"

Bob sniffed. "I think he looks very good."

"I might look good to you, but I..." Green eyes widened. "Ow..."

"Ow?" Bob echoed nervously, grabbing Harry´s arm and helping him to sit down on the seat in front of the mirror. "What do you mean `Ow´?" He turned to Lucius urgently. "What does he mean `Ow´?"

Lucius was kneeling by Harry´s side in a heartbeat. "What is it?"

A look of awe-struck wonder crossed Harry´s face, one hand coming to his rounded belly reverently. "It...it kicked," he replied, raising his face to them, his voice shaking with emotion. "I-I felt it kicking."

"You did?"

Grabbing one of Lucius´ hands, Harry placed it on his belly. "There..." he said.

"I don´t feel..." Grey eyes rounded. "Oh..."

"Let me feel! Let me feel!"

"No groping, Bob!" Lucius cautioned, as Bob shoved his hand aside.

Bob rolled his eyes. "This is hardly the time, is it, Luce?"

"This is you we´re talking about, Bob," Harry reminded him with a grin.

The blond-haired man tried to act shocked, but failed miserably. "I´ll try and keep my hands in respecta...omigawd!" he squeaked, looking from Harry to Harry´s belly and back again. "It kicked! I felt it!"

"It..." For the first time, it actually struck Harry. The reality of the situation. This situation. He was really pregnant. There was really a baby growing inside of him, a little life, protected by his own body.

He tried to push thoughts of the stomach-bursting scene from Aliens to the back of his mind. It had to be now that the one film that the Dursleys had let him watch came back to haunt him with a vengeance.

"Harry?" Lucius was studying him with concern. "Are you all right?"

For some reason, he couldn´t say exactly why, his eyes were filling with tears. "I´m pregnant," he whispered, staring at Lucius. "I´m really pregnant...with a baby...with... with your baby..."

The older man nodded once, then smiled. Even after all the weeks he had had to get used to that rare, warm smile, it still stunned Harry how...kind Malfoy could look. "It is a rather...odd concept, isn´t it?" he said, his tone reassuring as he gently squeezed Harry´s knee.

"Just a little."

Lucius´ eyes narrowed slightly, studying Harry closely. "Are you all right? You look a little...pale."

"It...its just hit me for the first time..." Harry replied unsteadily, feeling like he was both burning up from the inside and freezing to the core. "I´m pregnant. I´m actually pregnant. With a baby...what...what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

Even Bob had fallen strangely silent.

"I-I mean, I´m carrying your baby...what happens when it comes out?" His voice was shrill with fear and confusion. "Do we all just go back to normal and pretend nothing happened? Do you keep it? The baby? Do I pretend it doesn´t exist? Do I pretend that I haven´t been here? That I haven´t been living with you?" He looked from one face to the other, tears rolling down his face as he forced the words out, his throat choked up. "Do I pretend...do I pretend that I haven´t felt more safe...more safe and more loved here than I ever felt anywhere in my life?"

"Oh, Harry," Kneeling up, Lucius gathered the sobbing teenager against his chest, his own face contorted in pain and sympathy. "You needn´t leave if you don´t want to, you know. I told you that you were under my protection and I was serious."

"But I can´t stay here..." Harry´s voice was broken. "I can´t risk anything happening to you...not with Voldemort still around...you´ll be in danger...and the baby..." Wild green eyes rose. "What if he tries to take the baby?"

Bob´s hands squeezed one of Harry´s reassuringly. "We won´t ever let that happen, sweetie," he promised, his grey eyes steely with resolve. "You and this little squirt are parts of our family now and nothing, not even old Snakeeyes can take you away."

Scrubbing his eyes with his free hand, tucked oddly-comfortably between Lucius and Bob, Harry forced a watery smile at each of them. "This might take some explaining, for you," he mumbled.

"Why do you say that?" Lucius asked.

"How are you going to tell Draco that I´m going to be his quazi-step-mother?"